Little Girl Lost
by I-Can-Spell-Confusion-With-A-K
Summary: Ada can't explain how she ended up in the Glade, let alone how her mind became connected with the boy known as Newt to the point that distance between them causes her physical pain. Newt isn't sure how to handle the appearance of a girl in the Glade or how close he can let himself get to her when neither of them know who they really are. Answers aren't the only things they've lost.
1. Chapter 1

_The little girl was crying._

 _Her mother had taken her to work with her that day but now the little girl wanted to go home_.

" _We're not going home," Her mother told her._

 _The little girl cried harder. Her mother's voice was flat and cold._

 _She didn't recognize it._

" _We have to fix it." Her mother wasn't talking to the little girl anymore._

 _Her mother let go of her hand, drifted across the room, muttering to herself._

 _The little girl stood alone in the cold, white room, crying and calling for her mother who seemed to no longer be able to hear her at all._

" _We have to fix it," Her mother said again to no one in particular._

 _The little girl quieted, the occasional sniffle the only sound breaking the silence._

 _Somehow, even then, she knew._

 _There was no fixing this._


	2. Chapter 2

At first there was only sound, a grinding of metal on metal plus a distinctive whoosh of air as something moved upward far too quickly.

Then there was sensation bleeding through, the cool press of metal against a cheek, the sick spinning feeling of a body lying still and yet shooting through space, and the dull pain as something heavy shifted nearby pressing on body parts that must belong to one collective human.

Then there was a slamming stop, blinding light and sound again.

This time it was voices.

"What the...whoa," The closest one said before others grew louder as well.

"What the shuck is it, Gally?" Another voice called, impatience obvious in its tone.

"It's a girl," The closest voice answered, seemingly having a hard time believing its own statement.

Huh. That must be me thought the...girl, though she couldn't seem to muster the strength to open her eyes and confirm her own identity. She certainly couldn't grasp onto any thoughts that would indicate if they were right one way or the other. Everything was fuzzy in her mind, strings of sounds and words dancing in and out of her comprehension.

Worst of all was the buzzing, part sound, part pain, that was gradually growing from within her head.

"I think she might be dead," The first voice declared loudly, making the girl wish she had the ability to scrunch up her face to indicate the pain his volume caused.

"I'm coming down," called a new voice, then there was a slight bump as if someone had landed hard next to her.

She felt someone prodding gently at her shoulder as though to wake her though the act proved to be pointless. She still didn't have the energy to react at all.

That wasn't what caught her attention though.

The buzzing. The pain in her head.

As soon as the...boy? She thought the voice (like all the voices) belonged to a boy, which she was pretty sure she wasn't.

As soon as the boy had touched her...the pain had vanished.

Some vague half thought in the back of her mind wanted her to contemplate what that meant but all she could bring herself to truly register was relief before all of her limited senses melted away into blissful oblivion.

Newt paced in front of the med-jack cabin, his limp giving a distinctive rhythm to his repeated journeys from one end of the building to the other.

 _Step-drag-step-drag-step-drag_

Normally his leg didn't give him much trouble anymore. The med-jacks had fixed him up better than they had any right to be able to given they were really just a couple of kids with bandages and other rudimentary supplies at their disposal. That plus copious (and strictly enforced) rest had left Newt with an annoying, but manageable stiffness that didn't slow him down much.

But every once in awhile, usually when he was under a lot of stress, it acted up. The pain, now usually a dull but constant companion, came back full force and forced him to favor his leg or suffer the consequences. He'd been laid up for days at a time during the worst of these fits.

Alby had a theory that it was psychological.

The last time Alby had suggested it Newt had chucked a plate of Frypan's best bacon at his friend and almost earned himself a night in the slammer for his trouble.

Alby didn't bring up that particular theory anymore though.

 _Step-drag-step-drag-step-drag_

Newt grimaced and shook his head as an especially brutal bolt of pain shot up from his toes all the way to his hip.

He hated to admit it but Alby might have a point. Stress, anger...other negative emotions. They did tend to result in corresponding flare ups in his injury.

Bloody inconvenient too, given what had just shown up on their doorstep.

When Gally had called up from the box that there was a girl inside-a possibly dead girl at that-Newt had been sure he was feeding them a bunch of klunk.

It wasn't until he'd jumped down to the box himself that he'd accepted the truth of Gally's words.

It was a girl.

A bloody, shucking girl after what...50 boys? All coming up like clockwork, all awake if confused, and now this?

Newt couldn't shake the feeling that when she woke up everything was going to change and it wasn't a pleasant premonition.

It's not like he was so in love with the way their lives were now, the exact opposite in fact. But surviving those lives required a very delicate system to remain in place and any changes threatened to topple everything they'd worked so hard to create. Already Newt was out here standing guard in effect, Alby having ordered the non-essential gladers away from the cabin though many were still lingering within sight in case the girl made another appearance.

And if she didn't wake up...Newt didn't let himself finish the thought as he allowed himself to lean against the side of the med-jack cabin heavily.

Just because he was nervous about what the girl meant for the glade didn't mean he wanted the greenie to end up another corpse in their makeshift cemetery.

Before he had time to resume his pacing the door opened suddenly and Alby stuck his head out.

"She's awake," Their leader stated simply, shaking his head in a rueful manner. "Sort of."

Newt pushed off from the building, shooting his friend a confused look.

"What do you mean sort of?" He demanded, face scrunched in confusion.

"See for yourself," Alby shrugged, disappearing back into the cabin leaving Newt with little choice but to follow.

As soon as he did he saw exactly what Alby meant.

The girl was on the table they used as a makeshift cot, eyes open indicating her level of consciousness. However, she wasn't responding to any of the semi-frantic questions or comforting words being thrown at her from Clint and Jeff the two med-jacks in the glade. Each of them were attempting to secure an arm but the girl was thrashing around too harshly for them to get a good grip. Both of her hands were reaching upwards towards her head and when she was able to periodically snatch one or both away from the boys she would clutch at her forehead as though she were in great pain.

"She woke up and started this klunk," Alby informed Newt, moving quickly to try to help the med-jacks. "Won't listen to any shucking thing we say."

The girl was making soft whimpering sounds that occasionally built into a crescendo of a moan.

Newt didn't see what he could do that wasn't already being done but he moved towards the table and its occupant anyway.

Maybe it was because he hadn't seen a member of the opposite sex...well, maybe ever as far as his faulty memory was concerned, but he couldn't stand to see her writhing around in pain and not try to help.

When he reached the table he reached out to hold down own of the girl's legs which had just begun to twitch violently and looked to be within striking distance of Alby's face.

The second he touched her, before he even had a chance to exert any real force, her struggling stopped, and her body dropped limply back to the hard surface it rested on. The girl let out one final whimper before she was still, her eyes drifting down to Newt, seemingly just as surprised as the rest of them.

"What did you do?" Clint demanded.

Newt raised his arms in a gesture meant to indicate that he had no idea but the moment his hands left the girl's leg she groaned and began thrashing again.

"Newt!" Alby snapped, and Newt quickly dropped his hands back to their former position.

"What...where am I?" The girl had apparently found her voice and they all heard the familiar panic seeping into it. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"It's ok," Alby told her in a firm tone. "You're in a safe place. I'm Alby, I'm in charge here. This is Clint, Jeff and Newt. We're here to help you."

Alby had nodded at each of the other boys in turn as he said their names but the girl's gaze had never flickered from Newt's own, a fact he found more than a little unnerving.

"Do you remember your name?" Newt asked, without much hope. "Anything about where you came from?"

"I...I don't know," the girl shook her head as though that would somehow shake loose the answers to his questions. "I don't know who I am. I don't know anything."

"That's normal," Alby offered, probably meaning it in a comforting manner though the girl's widened eyes indicated it wasn't working. "None of the greenies remember anything at first. Your name will come back to you and we'll go from there."

"Greenies...what?" The girl seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open, as exhaustion threatened to overcome her despite the fact that she had only just awoken. "I don't understand. I don't know how I got here."

"You should get some more rest," Jeff offered, but it seemed as though his advice was unnecessary. The girl had already slipped back into slumber, though this seemed more like normal sleep than whatever state she had arrived in.

"Clint, Jeff, I don't want you poking and prodding at her while she's sleeping," Alby ordered, shooting the two med-jacks a look. "You try to satisfy your diagnostic curiosity and the next thing we know she's set off again. Go get some grub."

The two reluctantly did as they were told and Newt started to follow before Alby stopped him with a hand to the shoulder.

"I want you to watch her," Alby informed him.

"Why me?" Newt demanded, trying to ignore the ache in his leg that was only intensifying.

"Because you're the only one the greenie seems to let near her without trying to take their head off," Alby answered matter of factly. "Just for a few hours, Newt. I need some time to get the rest of that lot under control. This mess has riled them all up."

"Fine," Newt acquiesced despite his reservations. "Just for a few hours."

He felt badly about his lack of enthusiasm for his task. He normally had a lot to do with filling in the greenies anyway and it wasn't like he wasn't concerned about the girl's welfare. He couldn't put his finger on it but he just had a bad feeling about the whole situation.

Alby strode out of the cabin and Newt cautiously removed both hands from the girl's knee where they had been resting. The girl shuddered in her sleep and her brow furrowed slightly but she didn't wake, nor did she start moaning again.

Newt dragged a makeshift stool that was sitting nearby over to the side of the table the girl lay on and settled in for a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

_The little girl never saw the sun._

 _Not since the day her mother brought her to work and they never went home._

 _People said the sun was bad now. She could hear people talking when they didn't know she was listening._

" _Solar readings...no way we could have predicted any more accurately...CDC had no reason to anticipate this type of cataclysmic event...escaping samples...accelerated mutation…"_

 _And always that same word, "flare"._

 _She didn't understand much of what the people in white coats said to each other._

 _But the little girl understood that she was somewhere without any windows and she never saw the sun._

 _She never saw any other kids either. At least at first._

 _Then one day she caught sight of a whole group of them being lead in._

 _Most of them were crying and the little girl wanted to tell them that it was ok, she had cried too at first._

 _But before she could even get close a hand had closed over her shoulder and one of the people in white coats was depositing her in her mother's office._

 _Her mother barely glanced up from the glowing screen in front of her as she told the little girl one of the most important things she would ever hear._

 _Something that would become the central statement in the little girl's life, though she didn't know it yet._

" _You're not one of them, Ada." Her mother's eyes flicked up briefly to meet the little girl's before they returned to examining the screen. "They have important work to do. Don't interfere."_

 _The little girl never saw the sun._

 _And after that day it felt a little darker._


	4. Chapter 4

She woke up with a start and a gasp, her lungs burning as though she had been holding her breath while she slept.

She sensed movement to her left and realized that when she had woken she had also surprised a nearby boy out of his own slumber judging by the his confused look and the wobbling of the stool he sat on.

She had time to take two more deep breaths and give the boy a quick examination-messy blonde hair, dark eyes, slim build-before he regained his wits enough to react to her wakeful state.

She also unfortunately had time to take note that while much improved, that painful buzzing in her brain had not totally ceased.

"Easy there, don't fall off the table," The boy warned, reaching out to steady her just as she realized he was in fact correct and she was teetering dangerously close to the edge.

He had an accent, pleasant and musical that her mind was somehow able to identify as British.

"Great," She thought, scooting cautiously back towards the middle of the table without getting unnecessarily close to the boy until she had more time to asses his intentions. "I can remember enough to place accents but not enough to know who I am."

But almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she felt her head clear slightly. The buzzing had faded again, and the added clarity allowed something deep inside her to protest that her complaint wasn't true.

She _did_ know her name.

Ada.

Her name was Ada.

"Ada?" The boy repeated. "Is that your name?"

Ah. So apparently she'd said that out loud.

Ada considered carefully before responding. She didn't know anything about this boy. Hell, she still didn't know anything about herself beyond her first name. Still, he hadn't tried to hurt her yet and it was better to trust him at least temporarily rather than bolt for God knows where on her own.

So she nodded, indicating that he was correct in his assumption.

"Ada," He repeated once more, seemingly rolling the short word around on his tongue to test it out. "Right, well I'm Newt. And you're in a place called the Glade. I'm sure you have a lot of questions but right now it should be just about time for breakfast. I think we should get you some food and go from there, alright?"

She hesitated, but finally settled for nodding again. Now that the heaviness of sleep and the pain had both faded she could feel a gnawing hunger building in her stomach.

"Good that," Newt offered her a half smile. "I missed my dinner last night to keep an eye on you, Greenie."

Ada frowned but didn't bother asking for an explanation of the strange name the boy...Newt had referred to her as. She had bigger concerns like getting some food in her stomach and figuring out where the hell she was and why she couldn't…

Ada's stream of thoughts were caught off unceremoniously when Newt pulled away from her and stood.

The buzzing pain was back.

It was bearable. In fact it was subtle enough that yesterday she could have mistaken it for lingering effects of an injury sustained in...whatever that thing she'd come here was.

But no, this was something else and she was finally starting to piece together the fact that the pain's intensity or lack thereof was directly related to how close she was to the boy standing in front of her, seemingly uncomfortable under her critical gaze.

Ada squinted her eyes at him, attempting to give her brain time to sort out what was so special about him that her very physical well being seemed tied to his proximity.

"What?" He asked, shifting awkwardly at the intense scrutiny.

"Just let me try something," Ada muttered, determined to find the answer to at least one of the thousand questions currently rushing through her mind.

She could see the inquiry starting to form on his lips but before he could ask what exactly she planned to try, Ada was leaping forward arms outstretched.

"Ompf," Newt exhaled hard, all of the air being forced from his body at once as she made impact with his chest.

He didn't do anything for a moment, too shocked to react to the crazy greenie suddenly launching herself at him.

For her part Ada, pushed back slightly, bracing a hand on each of Newt's shoulders, embarrassment burning somewhere in the back of her mind. She might not remember much but she had enough instincts left to know that this wasn't exactly normal behavior. This was just a dull echo however; and easy to ignore behind the dominating thought pulsing through her brain now that she and Newt were in direct contact again.

The pain was completely gone. Again.

As soon as they were touching the pain disappeared. If they were close to each other the pain was still around but receded significantly.

"It's gone," She murmured to herself, examining the face of the boy that was now so close to hers, searching for any hint of what connected them.

He seemed to examine her back for a moment, his own stare less quizzical and more anxious before he appeared to fully grasp the situation.

"Whoa," Newt somehow managed to both grab her hands and remove them from his shoulders and hop back at least a foot at the same time, putting significantly more space between them. "What are you doing?"

It might have been comical if Ada hadn't been distracted by the hint of pain that had returned as soon as their contact was broken.

"The pain," She reached upwards with one hand to point helplessly at her forehead, giving it a quick tap for good measure.

"I'll get Clint," Newt offered, making to step around the table she still rested on. "He's keeper of the med-jacks, he might have something…"

"No, you don't get it," Ada interrupted, leaning over to block his path. "When I'm touching your or...you're touching me...it stops. The further away you are the worse it is."

Newt frowned, the corners of his mouth pulling downward grimly even while one eyebrow shot up illustrating his skepticism.

"What now?"

"I don't get it either," Ada shook her head as if to clear it, but in reality she knew that was a vain hope at this point. "I don't get anything right now. But it's true."

Newt didn't say anything at first just stared at her as if if he did so long enough she would take back what she'd said and admit she had been playing a joke.

Well, Ada had no intention of doing that. She just wanted to understand what was happening to her. And who "her" was while she was at it would be nice.

Finally Newt sighed, reaching up to ruffle the hair at the nape of his neck in exasperation he probably didn't want to be as obvious as it was.

"Look, you took a good tumble in the box and you just woke up," He spoke to her in a calm, soft voice, the way you might talk to an animal you were worried about spooking. "Can we just get some food in you? In both of us? We can figure out the rest later."

Ada hesitated. As hungry as she was how did he expect her to think about anything else, even food, when she had just woken up in a strange place, with a strange boy, no idea of who she was or what was happening to her?

Her stomach made the final decision for her by letting out a loud rumble at that moment, earning her a tiny smirk from Newt and a blush rushing to her cheeks.

"Ok," She decided, hopping off the table awkwardly.

For his part Newt had started to reach out to steady her then thought better of it and withdrew his hand, clearly torn between the instinct to help and the desire _not_ to touch her again unless absolutely necessary.

Ada decidedly ignored his indecision, not wanting to make herself anymore of a burden than she already was. She didn't know if she could trust him but it seemed that she needed him for the time being and not just for the food he had promised.

And so instead of reaching out and grasping onto some part of Newt, any part of Newt, to ease the slowly returning subtle buzzing in her mind Ada simply followed him out of the cabin as close as she dared.

Newt tried to ignore the stares of the other gladers as he led Ada into the mess hall but they didn't make it easy on him.

The place went silent upon their entrance then immediately launched into the kind of noisy quiet that only comes from a room full of people all whispering at the same time.

Ada was walking close enough to him that he felt it when she tensed under their interested gazes, and he fought the urge to flinch at her proximity. She would adjust, they always did. None of the previous greenies had clung quite this close to him, but it wasn't a picnic for any of them.

Alby half rose from his seat and Newt held up a hand to indicate he had the situation under control before steering Ada by the elbow over to where Frypan was dishing out oatmeal.

"Newt," Frypan gave him a nod of acknowledgment as he handed over a bowl which Newt promptly passed on to Ada before taking another for himself. "Greenie."

Ada met the nickname with a blank stare, her fingers clutching tightly at the bowl.

"Is she ok?" Frypan stage whispered, earning him an eyeroll from Newt.

"She's fine," Newt answered firmly, using his free hand to once again steer Ada by the elbow this time towards the only empty table on the far end of the mess hall. He didn't want to take any chances that she'd start spouting off that klunk about touching him in front of the rest of the gladers. He knew they would never let that go and they had enough to gossip about for the time being.

Ada sunk down onto the bench next to the table with a grateful sigh, seemingly just as eager as he was to no longer be standing in the middle of a room with all eyes turned to them. Newt followed suit, on the opposite side of the table, pointedly ignoring when the whispers started again from all around them.

Ada was twirling her wooden spoon around in her bowl examining its contents with a skeptical eye.

"It's oatmeal," Newt chuckled. She was like a little kid not wanting to try food until she was sure what it was. "They sent up supplies at the same time you came up so enjoy it. Stuff like this never lasts long."

"Who is they?" Ada leaned forward.

Newt sighed and gestured towards her bowl. He was going to get some food in her if it killed him.

Now it was Ada's time to roll her eyes but she acquiesced to his silent request and shoved a spoonful of the oatmeal into her mouth.

Newt took the time to take a scoop for himself, ignoring her frustrated stare before he cleared his throat.

"We call them the creators, but we don't really know who they are," He explained. "All we know is someone sends up the box every month with a few supplies and a new guy...or girl in your case."

"There haven't been any other girls?" She demanded, leaning forward again.

Newt nodded pointedly at her bowl and couldn't help but chuckle again as she groaned in annoyance but obeyed his insistence that she eat. She might be a little crazy but she was good for a laugh.

Once they had each had another scoop of oatmeal, Newt continued.

"No, greenie, you are our first and only female glader," Ada started to open her mouth to ask another question but Newt rushed on before she could get anything out. "No, I don't know why there have never been any other girls or why things changed now. Why do you think every shucking guy in here is staring at you?"

Ada blushed and dropped her gaze to the table.

That was cute. If you liked that sort of thing. Which he might. Or not. It wasn't like he had anything to compare it to.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" She asked when she had recovered from her embarrassment.

"What, Greenie?" Newt shrugged, shoveling more oatmeal into his mouth and talking around it. "It's what we call all our new arrivals. Next month they'll be a new greenie and everyone will call you by your lovely name, don't worry."

That earned him a small smile and Ada resumed eating.

"Speaking of which, Alby's going to want to know that you've remembered what you're called," Newt told her, finishing up his oatmeal and rising from the bench. "Come on, let's get you sorted."


	5. Chapter 5

_As the little girl got older she studied hard._

 _Some of the people in white coats came into focus, names were assigned to faces, and a makeshift classroom was made just for her._

 _She was taught about science and computers and other subjects her mother deemed important for hours everyday._

 _But she never learned what the other kids did._

 _Whatever they were learning was off limits._

 _She saw them sometimes when she dared to creep to the wing where they were kept, the tiny window in the door to their classroom affording her a tiny glimpse of what it would be like not to be alone._

 _She hated them sometimes._

 _She hated them for being together when she was alone._

 _She didn't know yet. She hadn't learned the truly important things._

 _No one ever thought to teach her._

 _She didn't know yet, being together wasn't the same as not being alone._


	6. Chapter 6

After breakfast and a quick introduction to Alby now that she could actually offer her name in exchange for him repeating his, a meeting was called.

The meeting was about Ada but she wasn't actually invited.

Instead she'd trailed behind Newt as he in turn followed Alby over to yet another small, one room cabin that was apparently reserved for important "gatherings" as the boys had called it.

"So all the bosses…" Ada started, huffing along trying to keep up with Newt's slightly unsteady and yet surprisingly fast gate.

"The keepers," He corrected not slowing down in the slightest.

"Right, so all the keepers are going to go in there and talk about if you should do what, kill me?"

That got his attention.

He ground to a halt and Ada bumped into his back.

"What? No, we're not going to hurt you."

Ada shrugged as they resumed their journey across the glade. "Sorry, apparently my mind goes to the worst place first. But what's the gathering for then?"

"Just don't worry, Greenie." They had reached their destination and Alby had already disappeared inside. "And stay here. Or better yet, over there."

He pointed to a tree a few hundred yards away.

Ada gulped, warning bells sounding in her mind. Not only were they about to make decisions about her fate without even allowing her to be present but she still hadn't had a chance to figure out what was going on with her need to be close to Newt. This could go very badly.

Still.

No point in ticking off the boys right before they decided what to do with her.

Newt must have seen the uncertainty flash across her face because he gave her a semi-comforting pat on the shoulder before pushing her gently in the direction of the tree.

Ada had only taken half a step in that direction before she felt the whoosh of air as the door behind her closed forcefully, sealing her out and maybe sealing her fate along with it.

She sighed.

This whole having no say in your own life-a life you couldn't even remember up to this point-really did stink.

Ada took her time wandering over to the tree, glancing left and right to take her first good look at the Glade as she went.

The most obvious feature was the one that she had tried very hard up to this point not to register. The entire clearing where the boys lived was surrounded by walls so high it almost seemed impossible that they had been created by man. It seemed more natural to think of them as part of the landscape, monoliths of stone sprouting from the ground like mountains, dividing them from whatever lay beyond. That clearly wasn't the case however; because Ada could see a large opening in the walls too perfect to be natural and beyond that a corridor among the stone.

She was tempted to go closer and examine this opening for herself but some unexplainable anxiety seeped over her at the very thought. There was just something wrong about all of this and as curious as she was another part of her wanted to close her eyes and ignore all the bits that didn't make sense and hope they went away.

Ada forcefully turned her gaze away from the opening and observed the gladers who were everywhere around her. From her fairly central location she could see at least five groups of gladers, some working in what looked to be a garden of some sort, some patching up the mess hall roof, and some scrubbing clothes in a large bucket outside of another building. The other two groups were clearly hard at work too but Ada couldn't quite make out what they were doing.

What she could make out unfortunately, was that most if not all of the gladers were also observing her.

Again.

Oh they were trying to be subtle about it, trying being the operative word.

One of the guys working in the garden had actually just smacked himself in the head with the handle of his rake because he was too busy watching her to realize a great big stupid stick was headed directly for his face.

Ada swallowed a giggle at the sight.

She hated the attention, hated the fact that all these people she had just met were looking at her for answers to questions about herself she didn't even know the answers to.

But she was only human. A rake to the face was always going to be funny.

Finally Ada made it to the tree Newt had directed her to and was pleasantly surprised to find that it offered more shade than she'd expected. It was a little on the scrawny side which probably explained why the boys hadn't chopped it down to build something with already. She noticed that there was a relatively small patch of woods lining the opposite end of the Glade and the trees there were much bigger. She had to admit the patch of shade this one provided was enough to greatly increase Ada's comfort level. The Glade was hot. She could feel herself sweating and knew she could probably use a shower. Of course she didn't know exactly how long it had been since her last one but she suspected the answer was long enough.

Ada let her body sink down to the ground, taking stock of the sensations that managed to feel familiar and brand new at the same time. The soft grass slid between her fingers, the rough texture of the bark as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes, the ever so slight breeze that made wisps of hair flick against her cheek periodically.

It was lovely.

And then it became impossible to ignore what she had been striving to forget.

The buzzing that had been only a slight and annoying accompaniment to the world around her began to grow steadily and painfully. It was like someone had left a television tuned to pure static and then turned the volume up as loud as it would go.

It was as if her head was the television.

Ada wondered briefly how she even knew what a television was. Did she watch television? Was that something she had done? She still had no idea. It was just like the color blue and the ability to walk, they were things she knew and recognized but not memories that had any context as they related to her own life.

That disconnect would have been incredibly disturbing to her had she been able to focus enough to really contemplate it. Instead all she could do was groan and raise a heavy hand to rub pointlessly at her forehead. It felt like her hand had to travel through molasses to get there and once it did her hopeful rubbing had no effect.

"Just tough it out," Ada told herself forcefully, hoping somewhere in the back of her mind that any gladers still watching her were too far away to realize she was in fact now talking to herself.

She didn't want to face the wrath of the boys at the gathering if she burst in now, not when her fate was in their hands. Nor did she want to make things harder for Newt, who despite his frustrating insistence on doling out answers when it suited him and not when she asked, had actually been nothing but kind to her so far.

Almost as if it knew of her mental resistance the pain in her head intensified ten fold, the buzzing increasing in volume until Ada half believed it was blaring through speakers filling the Glade with its ugly tone.

Ada dug her feet into the ground and clutched at the grass desperately, perspiration dotting her brow as she put everything she had into staying seated.

"Just five seconds at a time," She whispered to herself. "1...2...3...4...5, 1...2...3…"

At this point the searing pain reached a crescendo and both of Ada's hands disobeyed her and clutched at her head tight enough that she knew she was probably drawing blood.

All thoughts of resistance and strength were banished from her mind. In fact all conscious thoughts had disappeared all together. Instead instinct took over and Ada rose shakily to her feet, stumbling in the direction of the gathering cabin. She made it a few yards before the pain once again increased in intensity and she fell to her knees letting out an almost inhuman wail as it washed over her.

Everyone in the Glade must be looking at her by now, but there was no thought of dignity lost as Ada reached out desperately with her arms to drag herself forward. She crawled along blindly for a few moments, the pain manifesting as a bright white light that temporarily blinded her. She continued this way half crawling, half dragging herself across the grass for what seemed like forever but in reality was only seconds before her searching hand came into contact with something solid and vertical.

Her vision cleared briefly and Ada was able to use the last of her strength to stumble to a half standing position and yank the door open, immediately collapsing through it as soon as the gap appeared. She was sure her sudden appearance must have caused a stir but her hearing had faded away completely at this point except for the God awful buzzing.

Blinking away the dots that threatened to overwhelm her eyes once again, Ada spotted Newt, already rising from his seat, his mouth moving in meaningless symbolism. With an incredible last burst of effort she managed two more steps in his direction, steps he thankfully matched with his own, meeting her in the middle.

Her legs gave out just as his arms wrapped around her, catching her before she could collapse completely. The relief was instant if not complete, the buzzing fading away to allow the shouts to filter in just as her consciousness slipped out of her grasp.

"What the shucking hell, Newt?"

And closer, much closer, just above her ear, Newt's voice calling her name.

"Ada!"

"Huh," She thought as she allowed herself to embrace the encroaching darkness in front of her eyes.

It was the first time since he'd discovered her name was hers that he'd actually used it.

"No," Newt found himself shaking his head for what felt like the hundredth time during the gathering. "You can't lock a Greenie up just for showing up. We have a system for this."

"We don't have anything for _this_ ," Gally insisted, several other gladers nodding at his words much to Newt's irritation. "Three years this has been happening. Three years, nothing changes and now this? It has to mean something."

"Maybe they ran out of dudes," Minho offered sarcastically, earning him a few laughs before a glare from Alby and Gally alike shut them up.

"Even if it does mean something is changing, what do you think she's going to do?" Newt asked incredulously. "Murder us in our sleep? She doesn't need to be in the slammer."

"Just because she's pretending to like you doesn't mean she won't do something to the rest of us," Gally spat.

Newt sad red. He was normally one of the most levelheaded during these types of discussions but Gally was pushing every button he had.

He took half a step in the other boys' direction before Alby's hand interrupted his progress, resting warningly against his chest.

"Slim it, Gally," Alby ordered. "I didn't call this gathering so that we could…"

Alby never got a chance to finish his sentence.

He was interrupted by the door flying open and a blur that he vaguely recognized as Ada half crawling, half stumbling inside.

"Whoa!"

"Is she ok?"

"You ok, Greenie?"

Newt heard the shouts of the keepers present but he wasn't really processing their words. Instead he was already moving across the room which allowed him to be ready when her feet gave out to catch her, one arm around her waist the other sliding up to cradle her head.

"What the shucking hell, Newt?" Alby demanded from somewhere over his shoulder but Newt ignored his friend in favor of examining the girl in his arms for any signs of life.

"Ada?"

She didn't stir and Newt furrowed his brow in equal parts worry and frustration.

He gave her a gentle shake but gained no reaction for his trouble.

Before he could consider his next course of action the door burst open again, and a quick glance in that direction told him it was Clint and Jeff, several other gladers trying to crowd in behind as Minho in turn tried to keep them out.

The two med-jacks slid to a stop next to Newt, Clint immediately reaching out to feel Ada's forehead.

"We saw her from all the way across the Glade," Jeff explained, clearly out of breath. "She was just sitting under the tree, not doing anything, when all of the sudden she's crawling over here making all sorts of shucking noises like somebody was murdering her."

His words hit Newt like a slap in the face. When she'd barged in looking like death itself his concern and shock had blinded him to the obvious fact that this confirmed Ada's jacked theory.

If they were too far apart there were consequences.

Consequences Ada was suffering now because he hadn't wanted to deal with glader gossip.

"Sorry, I'm such a slinthead, Ada," Newt had time to think before Clint and Jeff were pulling Ada from his arms and he had to follow quickly in order to keep contact between them.

He wasn't able to touch Ada throughout her entire examination by the med-jacks but he stayed by the side of the table where she lay prone, as close as he dared earning him a raised eyebrow from Alby.

Newt merely shook his head firmly, his friend luckily trusting him enough to accept his signal and wait for his answers.

After nearly half an hour of poking and prodding, Clint and Jeff finally admitted that they were out of their depth and there wasn't much they could do for her other than a cool cloth and wait for her to wake up to see if she knew what had set off her fit.

Alby gave them each a pat on the back and shooed them out of the cabin before turning back to face Newt.

"Alright, start talking, buddy," Alby said in a way that didn't leave any room for disobedience despite his relatively friendly tone.

"Bloody hell," Newt muttered.


	7. Chapter 7

_The little girl didn't sleep very well most nights._

 _She hadn't since they'd come to this place, the place that used to be nothing more to her than where her mother worked and had since become her whole world._

 _It had started as their safe haven but now it felt more like a prison most of the time._

 _The little girl was not quite so little anymore and it became impossible not to understand some of the horrors that kept them there._

 _The sun was bad now._

 _People had died._

 _A sickness had come._

 _More people had died._

 _People were probably dying still. And those that weren't..._

 _The little girl had heard a word. Crank._

 _She didn't fully understand it but her mind conjured up images of monsters, hideous beasts ready to sink their sharp claws into her skin._

 _Her bedroom had only one small, round window and it didn't show much of the outside world._

 _It didn't let her see the sun._

 _It didn't let her see other people._

 _Just one small patch of sand._

 _But at night she swore she heard scratching on the thick glass and dreamed of monsters beating on its surface, looking for a way in._

 _The little girl didn't sleep well most nights._

 _Just lay in the darkness, waiting for the monsters._


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews I got! I need that if I'm going to keep motivated to update often, that's for sure.**

Alby didn't say anything until after Newt had finished explaining what little he knew about what was going on between him and Ada.

His expression didn't so much as flicker when Newt laid out each of the events that led him to believe that Ada wasn't entirely wrong about her seeming need to stay close to him.

His expression didn't change, but Newt knew his friend well enough to know exactly what was going through his mind.

So it came as no surprise when Alby's first words after he finished were, "You know that's jacked, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Newt acknowledged, dropping tiredly onto a nearby stool. He glanced over to make sure his new position hadn't caused Ada any discomfort and seeing that her expression and position seemed unchanged, allowed himself to slump back down, head buried in his hands.

"But," Alby continued firmly. "I believe it."

Newt's head shot up and his eyebrows reached even further upward. Now that had managed to surprise him.

"You believe it," He repeated skeptically.

Alby shrugged, then dropped onto the other stool.

"Think about it man," He said. "It's crazy, no doubt about it. It makes no sense. But neither does anything else in this shucking place. Someone is clearly running the show and it's not us. After everything else they've set up here nothing seems impossible. Unfortunately."

"Yeah," Newt agreed, softly, his throat feeling suddenly scratchy though he'd barely used it for the past few hours.

There was a moment of silence before Newt broke it with an almost involuntary groan earning him a laugh from Alby.

Why did the new greenie have to be a girl?

Why did she have to be in danger of passing out every five minutes?

And why, why, why did the previous two have to involve him so shucking intimately?

"Well, at least that solves one problem," Alby offered, amusement coloring his tone.

"And what would that be?" Newt demanded disbelievingly.

"Where the greenie's going to sleep," Alby stated all together too matter of factly, failing to entirely hide the grin that threatened to erupt on his face.

"Alby..." Newt protested, seeing exactly where his friend was going with this.

He couldn't possibly be serious.

"She has an aneurysm every time she's out of your sight, Newt," Alby pointed out almost comically patiently.

He had a point.

Newt refused to tell him that though.

"So that's the solution? Join us at the hip 24/7? For how long?" He demanded, reaching up to tug at the hair at the nape of his neck, giving away his anxiety more than he would have liked.

"Until we find a better one," Alby shrugged.

It was a sensible answer, and probably the only one they could hope for at the moment when they understood so little about what was bloody going on.

That didn't make Newt like it anymore.

He frowned and let the silence stretch between them until Alby decided to break it with a decidedly unhelpful comment.

"You know, most of these shanks would be begging to bunk with the greenbean."

Newt rolled his eyes, glancing over at Ada's still prone form to make sure she wasn't recovering her conscious state at a very inopportune time.

"Yeah, well I'm not most of these shanks." Newt huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back as far as the stool allowed without feeling like he was in danger of falling off.

"Nope," Alby agreed, shaking his head sagely though the glint in his eye gave away the enjoyment he was getting out of this conversation. "And that's why you're in charge when I'm not around."

Newt scoffed.

"Good thing you're always around."

"Yeah, Alby smirked, leaning forward to slap Newt's knee affably. "Good thing."

Alby had left soon after, spouting some klunk about being a very important leader with important leader things to do before leaving Newt alone to wait for Ada to wake up.

He took the opportunity to take in her appearance in a way he hadn't allowed himself to before.

Dirty blonde hair, puffed out around her head like a fuzzy pillow.

A fuzzy pillow that could use a good brushing.

Maybe it was the color of hair that term brought to his mind, maybe her hair was just blonde...and dirty...but it wasn't like her hair color made shuck all difference to him so he moved on.

Eyes...well, they were closed weren't they? So no information to be gleaned there.

This was going bloody wonderful so far.

She had a face that was kind of...sharp? But not too pointy or anything just not very...round?

Yeah, he wasn't exactly in the habit of describing girls and he was finding himself woefully unprepared for the task now.

His eyes drifted down past her chin and quickly skimmed over what was obvious below that.

So yeah...she had...those. Right. Good. Move on you, pervert.

She was slim. Short. Shortish. Definitely short compared to him. Her overall appearance was pale, slight, almost fragile but not quite.

She was pretty he supposed.

Well, of course she was pretty. He just didn't have anything to compare her to. She didn't make him forget his name just by looking at her or anything, but she definitely was a sight for sore eyes after being stuck with nothing but shanks like him for visual entertainment up to this point.

Newt allowed himself to lean forward slightly and reach out tentatively to brush a finger across her arm.

Girls were supposed to be inherently softer than guys right? That was a thing wasn't it?

She didn't seem particularly softer than he would expect any of the greenies who hadn't spent years in the harsh conditions of the Glade to be. Maybe her face...

Newt leaned forward even more reaching that same tentative finger towards her cheek this time when her eyes suddenly snapped open locking onto his as he froze in horror.

"Well, this could have gone better," flashed through Newt's mind, embarrassment flooding him.

It wasn't the only thing flooding through him though.

The biggest feeling was simple and uncomplicated.

Relief.

Ada's first thought when the darkness in her mind suddenly gave way and her eyes popped open wasn't really much of a thought at all, more of an overwhelming, instinctual feeling.

Newt being far away was bad.

Newt being far away hurt a lot.

But Newt wasn't far away anymore, he was close.

It was right about then that enough of her processing prowess kicked in that she was able to take in the fact that he was _quite_ close, like _really, really_ close.

His upper body was hovering over hers, his eyes level with her own, his finger outstretched and hovering just over her cheek.

Ada frowned, confusion seeping in enough to cloud her feeling of joy at the pain being gone by this point.

For his part, Newt seemed frozen and Ada watched with a bemused fascination as he took one, two breathes in and out.

"What are you doing?" She eventually whispered. She didn't know why whispered her question. The moment seemed fragile somehow, and besides there was still a residual headache pulsing through her head as evidence of the ordeal her body had endured mere hours earlier.

At least she though it was mere hours earlier. It could have been ten minute or two days she supposed, for all she knew.

She really had to stop losing time like this.

Her question appeared to be the impetus Newt needed to regain his senses and he hoisted himself upright quickly, coughing into one fist for no obvious reason other than to cover his discomfort in the moment.

Despite everything Ada had to swallow a smile at that gesture.

That wasn't obvious or anything.

"I was checking your pulse, Greenie," He explained hurriedly. "Can't have you dying on my watch."

He seemed to grimace slightly as soon as the words had left his mouth and she wanted to tell him she hadn't almost died on his watch, not really. Neither of them understood what was wrong with her and how much of a solution he was. He didn't know her. _She_ didn't know her. She wasn't his responsibility.

Still. She'd prefer not to totally eliminate his guilt if that was what stood between her and agonizing death.

So she didn't say any of that.

Instead she pushed herself up by her elbows and shot him a teasing look, as light and playful as she could manage at the moment.

"You were checking my pulse on my cheek?" She teased. "Didn't think you'd have more luck elsewhere?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you suddenly remember a medical degree you forgot to tell me about?" He countered with false offense, though the smile he offered her seemed genuine. "Yeah, yeah," She rolled her eyes.

Neither of them said anything for a moment and Ada took the opportunity to take stock of herself. Aside from the residual headache, she seemed to be in one piece.

"So..." She waved her hands in a helpless gesture that didn't really indicate anything beyond her awkwardness, though it was too late to take it back now. "I'm not dead."

"No," Newt sobered again at her words. "Not dead."

"But I'm pretty sure my theory about our physical proximity is looking more and more plausible," She forged ahead waiting for him to protest.

He didn't.

Apparently her latest horrifically painful and equally mortifying episode had gone along way to convincing him.

"We need to figure out what's happening to me," Ada said as decisively as she could. "And we need to know what it has to do with you."

"Well, sure, why didn't I think of that," Newt mocked. "Figure out what's happening, right. While we're at it why don't we just figure out how to beat the maze and get our memories back too? If it's not too much trouble."

"Maze?" Ada, furrowed her brow at the passing mention. "Those walls around the Glade is a _maze_? Is that the way out?"

Newt sighed, one hand coming up to massage his forehead. Maybe he was the one developing a headache at this point.

"I keep forgetting you're such a newbie," Newt said. "We need to get you a tour, and you need to audition for the keepers to get your job assignment and..."

"I need to touch everyone in the Glade," Ada interrupted, the next step to solving the mystery surrounding her suddenly becoming clear in her mind.

This had potential. If she could just gather everyone up at once and...

"What?" He was staring at her as though she had completely lost her mind.

"I need to see if it's really just you that has this effect," She shrugged. It seemed pretty obvious to her. "I've already been in contact with Alby and Clint and...what's his name? Jeff. So none of them have any result. But everyone else is inconclusive so far."

"Yeah, but it's not like your head is exploding when you're too far away from anyone else," Newt protested.

"True..." Ada mused as she hopped off of the table and stood shakily, swatting away Newt's hands as he attempted to steady her. "But we don't know that no one else's closeness solves the problem. We don't know enough to make any kind of educated guess about this weirdness yet, we've got to gather more information."

Ada took a couple of wobbly steps toward the cabin door before Newt regained his voice.

"By touching every single glader?" He demanded.

"To start with," Ada agreed, her mind already racing with other tests she could conduct. The idea of regaining some tiny scrap of control over her situation lending her renewed energy.

The next thing she knew Newt was in front of her, one arm braced on either side of the doorway blocking her escape.

"Not bloody likely," He snapped, taking her by surprise.

"Why not?" She asked, confusion once again marring her expression.

"Let me get this straight," Newt's voice was almost eerily calm, and one arm came up to point behind him towards the door and glade beyond. "You want to just line up a bunch of teenage boys and invite them one by one to touch the first girl they've ever shucking seen?"

Ada frowned.

Oh.

"When you put it like that..." She admitted quietly.

Newt shook his head.

"What am I going to do with you, Greenie?" His voice was tired and Ada felt a stab of guilt penetrate her disappointment.

She hadn't given up on the idea of testing her reaction to physical proximity with other gladers. Nor did she have any ideas to stop experimenting until she found an answer to what was wrong with her. And after that, despite Newt's sarcasm at suggesting it, maybe she could put her mind to figuring out everything else about this place that made no sense.

But for now, for now she owed the boy in front of her one.

"Well," She answered softly. "I heard something about a tour?"

Newt seemed to visibly relax at her suggestion, apparently closer to being on comfortable footing with that scenario.

"Ok, Greenie," He pushed open the door behind him and gestured for her to follow him out which she did, her legs feeling more and more willing to keep her upright. "There's three rules you need to know..."


	9. Chapter 9

_The little girl got sick once._

 _It shouldn't have been possible._

 _She was trapped the same place she had been for almost her entire life, a place literally conceived for the study and curing of diseases. It was completely sterile. Cut off from the outside world except for strictly controlled areas._

 _The place was crawling with doctors, all those white coats filling up the space with their talk of tests and samples and theories._

 _And yet._

 _The little girl got sick._

 _The white coats gave her the basics first. Rest. Fluids. Then antibiotics. Then vials of who knows what, flowing into her arm through plastic tubes._

 _Days passed in a haze, the little girl's senses fading out bit by bit until she only caught snatches of the worried conversations going on around her._

" _Incredibly weak immune system..."_

" _Could be a combination of factors..."_

" _No improvement..."_

 _They didn't know. They didn't know what was killing her._

 _But she knew._

 _She knew a body can only go so long without friends, without joy._

 _Without the sun._

 _She knew it was bad when her mother appeared at her bedside._

 _Her face betraying no emotion, but her cold hands reaching out to smooth back the hair from the little girl's sweaty forehead._

" _You're strong, Ada, even if your body isn't," Her mother told her, voice hushed. "You can solve anything you put your mind to. And right now, it's time to get well,"_

 _And so the little girl did what she had always done._

 _She listened to her mother._


	10. Chapter 10

_Do your part._

 _Never hurt another Glader._

 _Never go outside the Glade._

 _Do your part._

 _Never hurt another Glader._

 _Never go outside the Glade._

The rules ran over and over on a loop inside Ada's head despite her best efforts to think of something else. Twelve words were all she had to work with to somehow survive and make a life for herself in this place. It hardly seemed like enough, but it was what she had.

Newt had led her around the Glade, offering commentary on everything they passed.

The Bloodhouse.

The Homestead.

The Garden.

The Deadheads.

Whoever had come up first sure had a good time naming things. Maybe that was who she had to thank for all the slang words constantly flying by her ears as well.

Apparently she had to try out all the jobs and then the keepers would decide what she should be assigned to. At least that was the usual system for new greenies. The problem was she pretty clearly needed to stay near Newt, at least for the time being. So in practice her job was going to be whatever Newt's job was.

Which according to his answer when she asked was and she quoted "Sometimes gardening. Sometimes other...stuff."

She could tell he didn't seem too enthused about the idea of her following him around so she decided not to push him for further details at that moment.

So she was now a proud member of team Track-Hoe and occasional doer of other "stuff".

More importantly her tour had forced Newt to fill her in on the bigger picture. A glade surrounded by a maze. A box that brought up supplies and newbies once a month. Runners who mapped the maze looking for a way out. A maze that changed every night and was full of something...something bad that Newt was going to show her the next morning.

Ada shivered.

So she had that to look forward to.

But right now she was the guest of honor at what she supposed passed for a party in the Glade. The proper procedure was to have a feast and bonfire the first night a new greenie popped out of the box but with her fits and all the other chaos she'd brought with her there hadn't exactly been time yesterday.

Some people, mostly Gally, thought her appearance didn't warrant a feast at all. He'd been out voted however; and his former protests didn't seem to be stopping him from enjoying it.

If beating the klunk, to use the local vernacular, out of other boys qualified as enjoying the evening.

Ada had a strong feeling that in his case it did.

While most of the boys wandered around sharing food and a truly terrifying smelling brew known only as "Gally's Brew", Gally was standing inside a circle drawn in the dirt getting into a prompt shoving match with any other glader stupid enough to join him there.

"It's all in fun."

A voice startled her out of her reverie and Ada glanced over at Newt, who was sitting next to her just far enough away that their invisible tether didn't cause her any discomfort. He was sipping on one of those nasty drinks and gesturing toward Gally's antics.

Ada turned her gaze back in that direction just in time to see another boy sent flying.

"Yeah, fun," She winced.

"I know he comes off as a hard ass but Gally's alright," Newt insisted, taking another drink before continuing. "He just cares about what's good for the Glade. It's all about respect with him."

"And how do the newbies usually win his respect exactly?" Ada inquired, arching an eyebrow skeptically.

"Well, for starters they don't kick up a fuss or disrupt the order of the Glade," Newt smirked, twisting the jar in his hands.

"So a tad late for that," Ada sighed. "What else?"

"Do your job. Work hard, be part of the team," Newt offered.

Ada winced.

"So he's probably not going to be too fond of the fact that I can't have a normal job," She stated dejectedly already knowing the answer before Newt replied.

"Nope," He popped the "p" with unnecessary emphasis doing little to reassure her.

"Anything else?" She asked, forcing hope into her tone that she didn't feel.

"Yeah, go shove him outside of that circle," Newt laughed, taking another long drag of the questionable contents of his jar.

Ada gave herself exactly five seconds to run the variables.

All in all her conclusion was that it was a pretty stupid idea.

A pretty stupid idea with a chance of success.

Without warning she reached out and grasped Newt's wrist, taking him by surprise and causing him to spray his drink a pretty impressive distance.

"Come on," Ada stood, causing Newt to stumble to his feet as well.

"It was a joke, Greenie!" Newt protested as she dragged him in a determined line through reveling gladers and towards the circle on the other side of the fire. "Greenie. Greenie. Ada!"

She stopped.

Not because he had used her name, though it did pierce through her in a way their blasted nickname did not.

They were there. Just outside of the circle in the dirt where Gally waited for his next challenger, his back conveniently towards them.

"Just stay here," Ada told Newt firmly, patting his wrist as she let go of it and stepping out of his reach just as he made a grab for her.

Ada closed her eyes as she stepped forward, arms extended, heart beating out of her chest.

Here goes nothing.

She made contact with Gally's back, putting all of her weight behind the shove feeling him stumble forward, though far less than she would have hoped.

"Crap," She had time to think before she was flying through the air and then returning to the ground.

Hard.

"Ughhh," Ada groaned, opening her eyes to stare up blearily at the boy staring down at her looking livid.

"What the hell was that, Greenie?" He demanded.

"An experiment," She found the air to huff. "Let's go again."

"Ada!" That was Newt.

She didn't turn her head to locate him but she waved hear hand in the general direction of his voice to indicate he stay put.

"What's going on?" She heard a voice she didn't recognize ask.

"The greenbean tackled Gally from behind," A second voice laced with amusement responded.

Laughter sprung up from all directions as Ada gingerly pushed herself up to her elbows, then her knees and finally to a standing position.

"Slim it," Gally shouted, though it did little to quiet the chatter from all around them. "What do you think you're doing shank?"

Ada shrugged. Trying to keep her face impassive and not betray the nervous thumping of her pulse in her ears.

"It's all in fun, right?" She heard Newt groan from somewhere to her left and pointedly ignored him. "A game? Let's play."

A glint she didn't entirely like appeared in Gally's eyes and he smiled rather ominously.

"You asked for it," He warned, raising his arms and gesturing for her to come at him.

Ada took a deep breath before barreling forward arms extended with the intention to shove him again.

Of course, it was a lot more difficult when he was facing her and expecting the attack.

He didn't bother blocking her approach, simply stepped to the side and let her own momentum carry her forcefully into the dirt on the other side of the circle.

"Ouch," She moaned, rolling over and doing her best to quickly catch her breath,.

"Had enough yet, Greenie?" Gally called out, a scattering of cheers following his words.

"Nope," Ada pushed herself up again this time with decidedly more effort. "This is so much fun."

"She's jacked!" A voice called out to another chorus of laughter. "Totally jacked."

"Alby, stop this!" That was Newt again.

"I'm fine," Ada said firmly, brushing her sore palms off on her pants. "One more time."

"Your wish is my command," Gally answered, not waiting for her to approach him this time but simply barreling towards her.

The impact wasn't as bad as she'd feared it would be. He wasn't being gentle by any stretch of the imagination but he couldn't have been using his full strength either.

Still.

This was the third time she'd made forceful impact with the ground in the past five minutes, it didn't feel great.

As soon as he had her down Gally began dragging her by one arm towards the circle dividing them from the crowd of boys cheering them on.

Ada knew she was vastly out gunned in terms of body mass, upper body strength or energy level. She had no hope of wrenching her wrist from his grasp and even less hope of somehow taking him down to her level.

So instead Ada went with her instincts and stopped trying to pull away. Instead she latched onto Gally tighter with every appendage available to her.

She managed to wind both of her legs through his and reached up with her free hand to clutch at his shirt.

She was rewarded for her efforts when he stumbled.

"What are you doing shuck face?" Gally snapped, teetering precariously as she used momentum from pushing her back against the dirt to climb her legs even further up his.

"She's gone full koala!" Someone called out as Gally attempted another shaky step before stumbling to a halt again.

" LET. GO. OF. ME." Gally grunted managing to move their combined weight another halting foot towards the boundary,

For her part Ada didn't say anything, just focused on keeping her grip.

"Don't let go, Ada!"

"Come on Gally!"

"Give him hell!"

"Show her who's in charge!"

"That's enough," Gally finally grunted, reaching down with his other hand and working his arm under her back.

He gave a great heave and sent them both flying, him on top Ada noted ruefully, to the ground.

"Ooof," She grunted as his weight landed on top of her, dropping her legs and relinquishing her grip at last.

Gally for his part dragged the wrist that he still held in his grasp up above her head and pressed her fingers into the dirt she assumed was outside of the circle signifying her loss.

"You lose, Greenie."

He hauled himself up and Ada sighed in relief as his weight disappeared.

"Good game, Gally," She coughed out, finding herself once again looking up blearily into his face.

He shook his head, a grudging smile slipping onto his face before he reached one hand down to help haul her to her feet.

"Yeah, Greenie, good game."

He strode out of the circle without saying anything else and she lost sight of him in the crowd of cheering boys quickly. However, she was pretty sure there had been some form of respect exchanged there.

That and a lot of sweat, bruises and a little blood.

But mostly respect.

"Ada!" Newt had appeared at her elbow, and she was grateful. She was sore enough without needing to add that horrific buzzing to the mix. "You're absolutely mad, you know that?"

"Maybe," She smiled, before groaning slightly and reaching out to rest some of her weight on Newt's shoulder. "But your hypothesis was a good one."

"Bloody mad greenbean," He muttered, making her smile wider. "Let's get you back to the homestead. I think you had enough of a party for one night."

Ada nodded appreciatively allowing him to lead her away from the glow of the fire and the noise of the other gladers.

If only every problem she encountered in the Glade could be solved by letting Gally toss her around a bit.

Newt led a hobbling Ada across the glade and into the Homestead passing through the main living area and towards the secluded room in the back separated, by a plank door.

His room.

It really should have been Alby's.

It was the only bedroom, such as it was in the whole shucking glade.

It had originally been their planning room, the room where they kept the runner's notes from the maze and began construction of their model.

However, about a year ago under the pretense of needing more space they'd set the builders to crafting a separate cabin for that purpose out beyond the boundary of the Deadheads. In truth they'd wanted the privacy. They had finished mapping the maze. They knew every inch of it, every rotation of the sections, every corridor and every variable. But Alby had decided that for the morale of the Glade they needed to keep up pretenses. So the runners still went into the cabin everyday when they got back from running, probably stared at that damned model for a few minutes and then joined the rest of them.

No one the wiser.

Except Alby and Newt.

Bloody inconvenient being one of the people in the know when all you wanted was your little share of hope.

Still, the room should have gone to Alby when the runners had vacated it. But Alby refused, saying that he preferred to sleep outside anyway most nights. No point in reserving a room for him when he only planned to come in when it rained.

So it had passed to Newt and rather than refuse the privilege and see it open up a fight among the other gladers over who would take ownership he had simply accepted it grudgingly.

He'd never really appreciated the solitude that much until this moment when he pulled open the door and deposited Ada on a stool that usually went unused in the corner.

"So, uh, this is my room," He gestured around the small space before reaching up to play with his hair self-consciously. "Our room for the time being, I guess."

"Uh, thanks," Ada replied, seemingly not anymore sure of the proper conversation they should be having than he was.

"Ah," She winced at an apparent twinge in her neck, reaching up to massage it even as Newt found himself crossing the room to examine the damage.

"How bad does it hurt?" He asked, pushing aside her hair to search for obvious injuries. "Should I get one of the med-jacks?"

"Um, no, I'm fine," She brushed his fingers away and he stepped back putting a little space between them.

"Good that," He offered, feeling an inexpiable rush of heat to his cheeks. "I saw them on our way out, they're both totally hammered."

She laughed at that much to Newt's relief.

"So how is this going to work?" She asked, leaning over to peer past him towards the single makeshift mattress on the floor in the center of the room.

"Oh right," He sighed. There hadn't been a lot of time since Alby had decided their sleeping arrangements to actually work out the logistics of it all.

Most of the gladers slept in hammocks strung up in the main area of the Homestead. A few like Alby preferred to sleep with blankets outside most of the time. But after Newt's injury he hadn't been up to climbing in and out of a hammock for months. So the Med-Jacks had helped him rig up the set up he had now, old supply bags stitched together ans stuffed with a combination of grass and feathers.

It wasn't exactly a comfortable bed but it sure beat sleeping on the hard dirt floor.

Still. She'd had a rough day.

And he was a gentleman.

He thought so at least.

Most likely.

This was his first test he supposed.

Newt sighed before pointing at the mattress- _his_ mattress – with slight regret.

"Go on and take the mattress," He told her. "We'll get you a hammock hung tomorrow."

She looked like she might protest for a moment before she simply nodded and stood to move by him. It was almost pitch black at this point, only the slight glint of moonlight between the planks of the walls gave them any light to see by, so she took her time.

When she reached the mattress she toed off her shoes and sank down on it not bothering to remove any of her clothes.

Once she was settled Newt followed her example, pulling off his shoes before lowering himself, stiff leg and all onto the floor. The night was warm, as they almost always were in the Glade so he didn't need a blanket. Still, a pillow would have been nice. Too bad there weren't any in the Glade. He'd have to get around to making one or two at some point when he had free time.

Ha, yeah right.

Shifting in an attempt to get comfortable, Newt folded his arms behind his head and stared upwards into the darkness acutely aware of the breathing of the girl next to him.

"Newt?"

He couldn't help but jump when her soft voice broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," She whispered simply.

She didn't say what for, he supposed it covered a variety of things.

Not that it mattered.

Not that he'd had much of a choice in watching out for her given their situation.

Not that he'd managed to keep her from agonizing pain that morning or from a thorough thumping from Gally that night.

But then again, who was he to throw her gratitude back in her face?

So he only muttered, "You're welcome, Greenie."

Then he rolled his body to face away from her and did his best not to think anymore.


	11. Chapter 11

_The little girl grew older and her classes changed._

 _Sometimes the white coats would interrupt a lesson to ask her questions she didn't understand._

 _Other times they would give her puzzles, ask her riddles, have her listen to a story while she was hooked up to a strange machine._

 _None of it made any sense to her._

 _No one bothered to explain._

 _During one of her rare meals with her mother the little girl asked what the point was._

 _Her mother paused her eating, examined the little girl for a moment and replied._

" _They're tests."_

 _The little girl took in every detail of her mother._

 _The tight expression, the soft lines between her eyes, the elegant way her hands gripped her silverware._

 _The little girl wished for a moment that she was sick again so she could feel those hands slipping gently over her forehead._

" _Why do I need to be tested?" She asked softly, eyes dropping to the table in front of her._

 _The little girl heard rather than saw her mother resume eating, her silverware clinking musically against her plate._

" _Life tests us all, Ada," Her mother replied. "In one form or another."_


	12. Chapter 12

Ada was frozen.

She couldn't move, both feet rooted firmly to the floor, her arms hanging uselessly at her side.

She didn't know if she was physically incapable of movement or if it was merely fear that kept her in place but she knew she very badly _wanted_ to move.

In front of her was a door, a door with a small round window.

On the other side of the door, face pressed up close to the window was a boy.

 _Newt_.

Her brain supplied a name for the face though its meaning didn't fully register in the moment.

It was strange. It felt as though she both knew that was the boy's name and yet knew no such thing at the same time.

It didn't make any sense so she pushed the thought from her mind.

Instead she focused all her energy on moving her feet, on carrying her to the door and the boy beyond it.

Nothing happened.

Newt frowned. He seemed confused by her presence. His mouth moved in meaningless patterns after that and Ada knew he was saying something.

She couldn't hear him nor could she comprehend his silent communication.

He frowned again, seeming to realize how futile his attempts at conversation were.

Instead he simply pressed his palm to the window.

Ada wanted to meet his palm with her own, even with a glass barrier her instinct was to seek out that semblance of contact.

Her body still refused to cooperate but she wasn't sure he was seeking contact anyway.

There was something written on his palm.

The words looked fuzzy as though she were viewing them through an out of focus microscope. She knew the words were there but her mind couldn't seem to decode their meaning.

He was trying to say something again and this time sound was bleeding through.

"Wake up, Greenie."

Ada woke with a gasp, sitting up so abruptly that she almost smacked her forehead against the form hovering over her.

"Whoa, careful," The voice that had woken her warned and this time Ada was able to identify it as Newt's.

"Sorry, I...what's wrong?" She asked shakily, the pounding of her heart slowly returning to its normal pace.

"Nothing's wrong," Newt reassured her. "It's time to get up though. I've got to show you something and it's got to be now."

"What is it?" Ada found herself feeling torn between intense curiosity and a creeping sense of fear.

Perhaps it was the unsettling dream she'd just had but Ada had to fight the urge to tell Newt she wasn't going anywhere.

In the end she simply nodded and stood stiffly from the makeshift mattress where she'd spent the night, a night that now felt incredibly short. She winced slightly as her muscles stretched and ached. Her little stunt with Gally last night better have worked or she was going to be in mild agony for the next few days for nothing.

Newt for his part didn't comment on her obvious soreness just led her out of his room, through the main living area weaving in and out of hammocks full of sleeping gladers, and out the front door.

Ada was surprised to see that it was still completely dark outside, though Newt seemed to be having no trouble navigating his way across the Glade. Clearly this was a trip he'd made many times under similar conditions. Ada stuck as close to him as she dared, her elbow bumping up against his occasionally as they walked.

"How did you even know it was time to get up?" Ada questioned eventually, her voice though quiet seeming to echo in the emptiness of the Glade. "Do you guys have alarm clocks or something?"

Newt made a small sound of amusement, probably at the priorities her questions were taking.

Still. It was a valid inquiry.

"No," He answered. "You just get a pretty good internal clock after awhile. Besides, I wasn't sleeping that deeply to begin with."

Ada felt another stab of guilt move through her.

"Because I took your bed," She stated on a sigh. "Sorry about that."

"No worries," Newt countered dismissively. "I've slept in worse situations than that."

Ada was just contemplating whether Newt would be inclined to answer if she asked what worse sleeping arrangements there were than the floor of the Homestead when Newt stopped short.

"What's wrong?" Ada asked again, echoing her words from earlier.

She saw Newt frown in the minimal light.

"Nothing's wrong, Ada," He sounded slightly exasperated with her constant assumption that something terrible was happening.

To be fair it had been less than a week since she had woken up in a box with no memories and a debilitating condition of some sort so she felt it was justified to jump to the worst case scenario occasionally.

"We're here," Newt continued, gesturing towards a spot on the wall a few feet in front of them that didn't look particularly different to Ada than any other spot.

Ada shot Newt a questioning look but if he was able to discern it in the low light he didn't acknowledge it. Instead he simply gestured for her to follow him and stepped forward to pull aside the vines covering the wall.

Ada eased forward cautiously, instinct telling her there was no pleasant reason why Newt would have woken her up before dawn to examine a spot on one of the walls that kept them prisoner.

A moment later she was close enough to see that this spot was not in fact just like all the others. The stone of the wall was interrupted by a window, a rectangle of glass just wide enough for one person to observe out of it comfortably.

"What..." Ada trailed off, taken aback by the appearance of a design element so incongruous with everything else she'd seen in the Glade.

A window.

Why would there be a window?

"I don't see anything," Ada finally found her voice, peering out into the ever so slightly lightening darkness. "What am I looking for?"

"Shhh," Newt raised a finger to his lips and gently nudged her head back in the direction of the window. "Just watch."

Ada forced herself to swallow the hundreds of questions swirling through her mind and instead turned her attention back tot the scene beyond the window. The view revealed included nothing more than a long corridor, the kind she supposed you might expect to see inside a giant stone maze.

If anyone out there in the normal world ever expected to see a giant stone maze.

Then without warning _something_ emerged from the end of the corridor, slowly at first making its way around the corner and into her line of vision.

Ada couldn't make out many details but it appeared to be a living creature of some sort. It was big, bigger than any animal she could pull out of her limited memory. It also didn't behave like any animal she knew of. It clicked and rolled and dragged itself slowly towards them with what appeared to be metal limbs,. However, once it got a little bit closer she could make out an oozing body that was definitely biological.

It was horrifying and yet Ada couldn't help but lean even closer to the glass in an effort to examine it more closely. A creature lived in the maze? A creature that was part machinery and part living animal? Her horror was matched only by her burning curiosity.

She reached out and placed both palms against the glass, resting her weight fully against the glass with a bump that echoed dully in the silence.

"Don't..."

Ada barely had time to register the beginning of Newt's warning before the hideous creature whipped it's bulbous form in their direction. Before she was able to react it was barreling straight toward her, faster than should have been possible.

Against her will Ada gave a shriek that built into a full fledged scream when the creature made hard impact with the glass she had been leaning against.

All rational thought fled from Ada in that moment and she jumped backwards, eyes closed sure that certain death was only moments away.

She expected to make contact with the ground and very soon after with the pointy end of the monster before her but instead she felt her back collide with a solid presence behind her.

"You're ok," A steady voice breathed almost directly into her ear as an arm snaked its way around her waist to keep her upright. "It can't get through."

Newt.

He had been just behind her as she looked through the window and now he had caught her.

And perhaps sensing the shaking that rattled through Ada involuntarily, he wasn't letting go either.

Ada forced herself to open her eyes, one popping reluctantly open after the other.

It was true the creature had not broken through the glass.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Ada registered that it must have been extraordinarily thick in order to endure the onslaught the creature was still unleashing upon its surface.

Ada shuddered, shrinking away from the sight in front of her again slightly.

The arm Newt had wrapped around her gave a gentle squeeze at that, and Ada turned her head searching for his face.

Her nose brushed gently along his cheek inadvertently, and Ada realized fully for the first time just how close they really were in that moment. She pulled back slightly, just enough so that she could meet his eyes and waited.

She wasn't sure what she was waiting for.

Answers, maybe?

Answers about what the creature was that still struggled to reach them.

Answers about what exactly she was supposed to do with the information of what lay in wait in the maze.

Answers about why he her heart was still beating just as fast even though she no longer believed she was about to die.

When he finally broke the silence it was only to whisper, "You alright?"

Ada let out a rush of air all at once as though she finally had permission to breathe again.

"Yeah," She answered shakily. "I'm good."

She wasn't sure she was though. She was confused. She was scared.

And worst of all was the simple fact that neither of those feelings were stronger than the unnamed rush of nerves that was surging through her.

She was very aware of the warmth where Newt's arm rested against her stomach.

It felt good. Comforting, safe, a steady, calming weight keeping her from losing what was left of her dignity.

Then again she was staring into the eyes of a boy she had just met while a nightmare creature did its level best to murder them mere inches away.

So, really, dignity was relative.

Newt seemed to come to a similar realization at the same time because he released her and stepped back, one hand immediately going up to tug at his hair while the other yanked the vines back over the window.

His actions gave Ada the moment's reprieve she needed to snap out of her stupor.

"What the hell is that?" She asked, taking another couple of tentative steps back from the now hidden window.

Now that it could no longer see them the creature seemed to be struggling less but she could still hear the dull banging as it bumped against the glass.

"We call them grievers," Newt explained, his voice husky, his face illuminated in the first ray's of light that infiltrated the Glade. "We don't know what they are, or where they come from, or what the shuck they're doing other than keeping us here. They live in the maze and usually they come out at night but they can show up any bloody time they want. _That's_ why no one but the runners can go in the maze."

Ada took in the information Newt had imparted silently.

"Ok," She finally stated, her tone carefully flat.

"That's it?" Newt asked incredulously. "You don't have a million questions?"

Ada shrugged.

She _did_ have a million questions. Of course she did. But she trusted that if Newt knew any more he would have told her. She would have to gather information and answers as the opportunities presented themselves. The first one that sprang to mind being to seek out someone who had spent time in the maze.

The second being to somehow investigate the maze herself.

Ada tried not to visibly shudder at the thought.

She wasn't particularly brave, at least she didn't think so based on the limited evidence of her past few days in the Glade. She was however curious and determined to make sense of the senseless set up of their world here.

Newt watched her carefully for a few more moments before shaking his head ruefully.

"Come on Greenie," He sighed. "Let's get some grub."

Newt spent most of breakfast trying _not_ to stare at the girl seated across from him.

He had a lot on his mind.

Why did the creators decide to send up a girl all of the sudden?

Why was her well being tied into her ability to stay close to him?

And the question taking up the much larger and more mortified portion of his brain, why exactly did he think it was a good idea to more or less give her an extended back hug?

It hadn't been something he'd though about at the time, just an urge to comfort someone experiencing a terrifying moment he remembered experiencing all too well.

Not that he'd felt the urge to comfort last month's greenie in quite that way.

Newt groaned internally.

Leave it to him to be a total pathetic shank when confronted with a member of the opposite sex.

Without the pauses for conversation breakfast passed quickly and Newt led Ada out into the Glade.

"Right, well we'll be doing some work with the track-hoes this morning," He told her, keeping up a brisk pace toward the gardens. "We'll start with the basics and then..."

Sensing that she was no longer next to him Newt whipped around only to see Ada still standing a few feet behind him.

Newt rested his hands on his hips.

"What are you doing, Greenie?" He called back, exasperation seeping into his tone. "We've got work to do."

"I need to make a stop first," Ada said, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Newt rolled his eyes.

"It's your first day of work, Greenie, being late isn't the best first I mpression. Not to mention if you're late then I have to be late and that's not happening."

He was vaguely aware of a few other gladers hanging around for the last few minutes before work started but he tried to ignore their obvious interest in Ada and by extension, him.

"I need to go to the...what do you guys call it? The klunker?" Ada questioned matter of factly.

Newt could feel his jaw drop and was aware it wasn't exactly the most attractive look, especially not when combined with the heat he could feel rushing to his cheeks.

Knowing he looked like a slinthead didn't make one bit of difference though.

"You...uh...what?" He stuttered.

"I need to use the facilities," Ada stated. "For a bowel movement."

That was it.

Newt strode forward and grabbed Ada's hand, dragging her towards the Deadheads as the disbelieving laughter of a few gladers who had overheard her statement filled the air.

Newt didn't pause until he had reached the aforementioned klunker, practically shoved Ada inside and took up a position outside the door.

He wanted to be anywhere but there but it wasn't like he had much choice. He was accurately aware that if fled due to his inability to deal with knowing what she was doing then he would leave her doubled over in pain.

It wasn't like he had a lot of favorite parts so far when it came to being locked in physical proximity with Ada, but one thing that definitely wasn't in contention for that title was the need to figure out a way for them to each have privacy for moments like these.

At first it hadn't been much of a problem.

Ada has spent much of her first two days in the Glade unconscious or asleep allowing Newt to slip out and relieve himself quickly without adversely effecting Ada too much.

After she woke up Newt had even managed to stand a respectful distance away while Ada speedily "made water" or whatever other stupid names could be given to that activity. She'd always managed to get back to his side before the pain become unbearable and he'd very studiously not discussed the whole process they had just gone through.

But something in his shucking mind drew the line at dealing with everything else that had popped up in the last few days _and_ accompanying the first girl he could remember knowing to her _bowel movements_.

Shucking hell.

Before he had too much time to sink further into his own humiliation, the door behind him opened and Ada stepped out her expression now as stricken as his.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Her cheeks colored slightly. "It's just...a biological process, totally normal but now I realize I probably shouldn't just announce things like that."

"Good that!" Newt agreed, probably a little too enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Ada seemed to grow another shade redder if that was possible. "I guess I was just thinking about it practically not...uh, how it would effect boys who might be tethered to me."

Newt cracked a smile despite himself.

"There many of those, are there?" He asked, one corner of his mouth rising up in amusement. "Here I thought I was special."

"Aww, don't be jealous," She teased, his positive reaction seemingly giving her permission to recover from her own embarrassment. "You're the only boy I let take me to the klunker."

"Ughh," Newt groaned, turning on his heel and striding away despite the fact that he knew Ada could only follow closely behind him.

She did just that, muttering under her breath, "It's a perfectly natural biological process."

Newt smiled in spite of himself.

Bloody shucking girl. Nobody that pretty should be that comfortable discussing klunk.

Somehow he found himself finding her oddness disturbingly enduring.

"Bloody hell," Newt thought as she stomped along behind him. "I'm in trouble."


	13. Chapter 13

_The little girl hovered outside the door to her mother's office._

 _She didn't come here much._

 _Her mother didn't like to be disturbed and the white coat's kept the little girl busy enough._

 _Still._

 _The little girl clutched a piece of paper in her hand, a test on which she had received perfect marks._

 _She'd come to show her mother in the hopes of what?_

 _Validation? Praise? A simple approving look?_

 _But like always her mother was occupied. She could hear the muffled sound of talking through the door._

 _Ada pressed an ear against the cold metal of the door and strained to make out the words being said on the other side._

" _...absolutely vital to the success of the trials..."_

" _...spreading faster than anticipated...not so...surrounding sector's completely depleted..."_

" _...widen...utmost importance..."_

" _...minimum number of control subjects for comparison..."_

 _The little girl struggled to make sense of what she heard._

 _She was so busy parsing possible meanings she was completely unprepared when the door in front of her was yanked open from inside._

 _One of the white coats scurried by her and the little girl's mother gazed down at her disapprovingly._

" _What is it?" Her mother's voice was neither affectionate nor angry, simply clipped and business like._

 _The little girl inexplicably felt that she might cry._

" _Nothing," She answered, swallowing down the urge to step forward and wrap her arms around her mother._

 _The door closed._

 _The little girl closed her fist, crumpling the paper she held and letting it drop the bright white floor._


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: This is the first chapter where it doesn't have both Ada's and Newt's point of view, but Newt's voice will be back next chapter.**

Despite Newt's promises to the contrary Ada wasn't finding it any easier to get herself up on time in the mornings. Instead, she'd woken each of the previous few mornings to Newt's face as he shook her shoulder gently.

The morning a full week after she'd arrived was no different. She was pulled from her dreams by a hand nudging her shoulder and blinked open her eyes to see Newt offering her a tired wave before he moved away from her hammock to let her get up.

Ada thanked the universe silently for sticking her with a boy who seemed to have the patience of a saint. She didn't know much about her previous self but it would appear that she wasn't a morning person. She also had a strong suspicion she had owned an alarm clock and not relied on her faulty internal clock to get to places on time.

Although there was always the possibility that in her previous life she hadn't had to worry about such things. Maybe she was fabulously wealthy and never had to lift a finger. Anything was possible she supposed, but it wasn't exactly the most realistic scenario her mind had conjured.

Ada sighed and swung her legs out of the hammock and onto the floor. At least the fact that it was dirt and not tile meant that it was fairly warm to the touch.

Wherever she had been before, were there cold tile floors?

She sat perfectly still for a moment hoping that if she tuned out her surroundings she might be able to project herself into her past and remember something, anything.

After a few seconds she had admit it wasn't happening. Sighing again Ada stood and grabbed her clothes from the neatly folded pile where she had left them. So far she only had the one outfit and a large shirt Newt had given her to sleep in. He said the creators might send up more for her when the supplies came next month and in the mean time the sloppers did laundry once a week. She had been told she could borrow one of his outfits for laundry day. He only had three so she knew this was a bigger favor than it sounded like and she was grateful.

She was also all too aware that Newt was only a few feet away as she quickly removed his shirt and shrugged on her clothes. He may have been respectfully keeping his back to her but this whole arrangement made her incredibly uncomfortable. Something about living in close quarters with _anyone_ felt remarkably strange, let alone a boy she had just met who couldn't venture out of her sight.

Once she was dressed Ada cleared her throat to let Newt know she was decent. He peeked carefully over his shoulder at her and once he had confirmed her readiness he nodded and led her out of the homestead and toward the mess hall.

After breakfast Ada trudged behind Newt over to the garden, reluctantly taking the spade he handed her once they'd arrived.

They had spent the last few days planting, weeding and watering. It didn't sound too bad but Ada's muscles ached and her skin was already pink and sore from spending so much time in the sun. Maybe she had been fabulously wealthy in her former life after all. She certainly hadn't been doing a lot of gardening or manual labor in general.

Newt had assured her that she was doing fine but she could see the annoyed glances from the other track-hoes as she stumbled along behind Newt filling in with dirt the carefully dug holes he had placed seeds in. It wasn't the biggest contribution in the world but just like the days before they had to find ways for her to do her part while also sticking close to his side. They continued this way for several hours, only speaking when Ada inevitably bumped into Newt's back and mumbled an embarrassed "sorry" before they continued on.

"Alright, shanks, lunch time," Zart, the keeper of the track-hoes announced finally.

All around them boys dropped their tools and set off in the direction of the mess hall. Ada stood straight, carefully stretching out the muscles in her back, fearing the hunch there might become permanent if she wasn't careful.

Newt straightened as well, tugging off the gloves he wore and dropping them to the ground.

"Hungry?" He asked, though it was a bit of a rhetorical question.

Ada shrugged. She wasn't particularly hungry but she would eat, just like the rest of them. She'd learned pretty quickly to eat when it was offered because Frypan wasn't in the habit of accommodating people's schedules. Besides the further away from supply day they got the less and less appetizing the offerings got. She wanted to take advantage of the relatively palatable meals right now before the warned of dry spell hit next week.

"Cheer up, Greenie," Newt ordered as she fell in beside him as they headed for the mess hall. "It could be worse, you could be trailing along after a slicer."

Ada shuddered.

He had a point.

It wasn't that she was afraid to get her hands dirty and she very well understood that the meat they ate had to come from somewhere. Even the idea of slicing open an animal didn't seem completely off putting to her, though in the scenario she could imagine it was already dead and the goal was to glean information from it. Somehow the concept of being the one to actually take a life, any life, was enough to make her eyes prick and her hands clammy.

She appreciated what the slicers did for the Glade though. Everyone had a part to play.

Everyone but her.

Ada sighed and Newt frowned.

"That doesn't sound like cheering up," He pointed out.

Ada did her best to plaster on a smile though it felt at least half like a grimace.

That earned her a chuckle from Newt just as they reached the mess hall.

"That's the spirit," They were quickly being surrounded by other gladers who were crowding around trying to find each other or claim a good spot in line. "Now stick close to me this time, ok?"

Ada nodded innocently, but as soon as Newt turned his head she purposefully took a few steps back and melted into the crowd of boys. She continued to weave in and out of clumps of gladers until the buzzing in her mind became just painful enough. Then scrunching up her face in concentration and to resist simply running back to Newt, Ada began touching other gladers. From the outside it seemed random, in fact if any of the boys noticed her contact at all she took pains to try to make it look like an accident.

An elbow brushing an elbow over here, a hand steadying itself on an arm over there, bumping into a boy's back for good measure. Ada's testing was based on opportunity but it was still systematic. She had a list of all the boys she had attempted this with, folded carefully in her pocket alongside a small, collapsible pen. The pen actually hadn't been that hard to come by, the creators sent them up by the box for the builders and the runners to use and no one had seemed to bothered by her request to have one. It was actually the paper that was more of a problem. Each runner had their own small notebook and the builders had one collective sketchpad but that was it as far as she could tell. At first she'd thought she was out of luck until Newt had told her that the supplies sometimes came with inventory lists. Frypan had been willing enough to offer her a crinkled sheet that said FLOUR 10lb and OATMEAL 10lb on one side. The other side was blissfully blank though.

The buzzing was starting to get to Ada, and little white dots danced into her vision. Still, it seemed to her that her ability to separate slightly from Newt was actually getting better. On the first day she wasn't sure she could have maintained this small distance for this length of time. She would have to devise a way to find out exactly what her capabilities were later. For now she wasn't interested in pushing it. Making a mental note of those she had tested contact with, none of which had any notifiable effect, Ada pushed through the pack of boys in front of her searching for Newt.

She found him almost immediately, peering around for her with a worried look on his face. Well, worried might not have been the best term. _Stressed_ was more like it. His face melted into relief for one moment when he spotted her, though it quickly settled into his more characteristic frown.

They each took a few steps forward until they had reached each other, Ada reaching out to grab the first part of Newt she came to which happened to be his hand. The buzzing instantly disappeared and Ada sighed again, this time in relief.

"You alright?" He asked, leaning forward and down slightly so he could get a good look at her face.

"Oh yeah, fine," Ada assured him. "It gets so crazy in here at meal times, can hardly keep track of you."

Newt eyed her skeptically but seemingly decided not to press her any further.

"Could you shanks hold hands somewhere else? Some of us are hungry," A voice from behind them called out and Ada felt her face instantly heat up.

She hadn't even realized she was still clutching Newt's hand but she dropped it like it was suddenly burning her. Newt seemed to be embarrassed too, but he did his best not to show it.

"Slim it, Winston," He barked out, before steering her by the elbow towards the table where Frypan was distributing sandwiches and fruit.

They got their food and took a seat at a table where several boys already sat, some Ada recognized, some she didn't.

"Where's Alby?" She asked as they took their seats, Newt across from her and a boy she didn't know yet to her left. She knew that Alby and Newt were close and they usually sat with the leader during meals.

"He took his meal to go, some problem with the builders he had to deal with," Newt explained, already digging in to his sandwich.

Ada nodded, not bothering to start eating until she had reached into her pocket and extracted the paper and pen she found there. She unfolded the paper carefully and made a few marks quickly before Newt could get too good a look at it though she didn't miss his efforts to do so.

She couldn't exactly just make a big list of all the gladers names. For one thing she didn't know everyone's name yet and beyond that she didn't want them growing suspicious if they came across it. If Newt's reaction to the idea had been anything to go on, this whole "touch experiment" wasn't something she wanted to be public knowledge. So instead she made up code words for each glader, something based on appearance or personality that would help her remember as she came across them. Then she simply made a slash next to the word if the test had proved ineffective, as so far, they all had. Speaking of which, the boy to her left was a subject yet to be tried.

Ada reached for her sandwich and attempting to appear casual. She carefully bumped her waiting apple with he elbow sending it rolling across the table in the general direction of the boy next to her.

"Sorry, could you hand me my apple?" She asked, proud of her nonchalant tone.

"Oh, yeah, sure," the boy scrambled to do just that, a nervous air projecting thickly from him.

Sometimes there were advantages to being the only girl these boys had ever seen.

He practically shoved the apple into her hands and Ada made sure her fingers made good contact with his. It was true she was close enough to Newt that there wasn't much buzzing going on. Still, there was just enough in the back of her brain to make her confident this boy wasn't a solution either.

Ada set down her apple and picked up her pen, writing SPIKE (in reference to the boy's hair) with a careful slash mark next to it. She put down her paper and pen with satisfaction and reached for her sandwich only to be met with Newt's narrowed eyes.

He leaned across the table.

"What was that?"

Ada tried her best to look innocent.

"What was what?"

"I know what you're up to," He half-whispered, and Ada had to fight a smile. He was so serious.

"I don't know what you're talking about," She insisted lightly, taking a big bite of her sandwich for good measure.

Newt leaned back and grudgingly did the same, though she noticed his eyes drifting to her list again a few times as they ate.

After lunch everyone headed back to their stations, Ada trudging reluctantly back towards the garden. She was just wondering if Newt would let her be the one to drop in the seeds just for variety's sake when a strange sound filled the Glade.

Ada couldn't identify it. There was a semi-familiar grinding and crunching that sounded mechanical in nature but that seemed completely out of the question. With the exception of those...grievers, on the other side of the walls she'd yet to see anything with moving metal parts since she'd been here. Fear flooded her veins briefly as she wondered if this meant the grievers had found their way into the glade but the fact that no one else was running for their lives alleviated that fear fairly quickly.

"What the shucking hell..." Newt trailed off, his heard turned towards the middle of the Glade.

"What is it?" Ada asked, bouncing on to her tip toes in an effort to see around him.

"It's the bloody box," Newt was moving now, his limp slightly more obvious than usual as he half ran in that direction leaving Ada to follow him. "That's impossible. No alarm, but the box coming up three weeks early..."

He trailed off again and Ada swallowed nervously. The box was where she had come from. She couldn't explain the fear that unease that swept through her at the thought of it's unscheduled return but she sped up just a bit more to keep her closer to Newt.

When they reached the hole in the ground that would apparently soon house the box there was already a growing pack of gladers gathered around it. She and Newt must have spotted Alby at the same time because the boy beside her made a beeline for his friend and fellow leader right then.

"Any idea what's going on?" He asked the older boy, his tone obviously purposefully being kept calm.

Before he could answer a whoosh of air swept out of the hole and a slam of metal announced the arrival of the box.

There was silence for a moment before Alby shot Newt a look that spoke volumes, though Ada wasn't exactly sure what they were silently communicating.

"Let's find out," Alby strode forward and so did another boy, each grabbing one side of the cage like lid to the box and heaving it open on its hinges. Alby knelt by the edge and examined whatever he saw inside for a moment. Other boys started jostling closer and their chatter filtered back to Ada.

"No new greenie."

"Of course, not slinthead, it's only been a week!"

"There's something in there."

"What is it?"

"Let me see!"

"Slim it!" Alby called out, his words having an immediate effect before he hopped down into the box, grabbed something and climbed out.

"It's for her," the leader's voice pierced through the relative silence like a bullet and Ada shuddered.

Every eye in the glade turned towards her as Alby made his way over with a small bag.

He handed it to her and Ada took it reluctantly, something inside of her going off like a warning bell that once she accepted this package from the creators she couldn't go back.

The bag had her name embroidered on to the outside, the curly forms of the letters looking starkly out of place in their current surroundings.

"It's probably just supplies for you," Newt offered. "We figured they'd send some."

"No other greenies got supplies _early_ ," one of the other gladers hissed. "How did she get so cozy with whoever sent us here?"

A sea of chatter arose around them at this and Ada struggled to remain calm and not simply turn on her heels and run. It was too much. The questioning stares, the noise of a hundred conversations all around her, the inability to even truly argue for her innocence when she didn't remember a thing about herself.

"I said slim it!" Alby shouted and the glade once again fell into an uneasy silence. "Open it, Greenie."

Ada reeled back, horrified. She had to open it here? Now? In front of all theses doubting eyes where once wrong expression might lose her their trust forever?

"Alby..." Newt started to protest but one sharp look from his friend and he sighed before falling silent.

Ada reached shaking fingers down to undo the clasp on the bag and reached in half expecting something to jump out and bite her fingers. Instead she pulled out a shirt, pair of pants and undergarments, neatly folded and completely harmless.

Ada felt weak with relief. Not only had she not discovered anything incriminating so far but she had been given a spare set of clothes. She heard a few snickers as she set aside the bra and underwear but it hardly registered in her mind as something she should be embarrassed about. Now if she were in them and nothing else that was one thing, but she was hardly going to kick up a fuss about the items themselves.

She reached further into the bag and this time her hands closed around a plastic box. She drew it out and squinted her eyes cautiously at the label. It read "Menstruation Supplies".

Ada hadn't thought about her need for such things but it seemed that the creators had.

"What is it?" Newt peered over her shoulder then straightened quickly once he'd made out what the label said.

"What is it?" A voice from further back in the crowd called out.

"Nothing," Newt shouted back. "Slim it."

He was clearly mortified but Ada found it rather endearing. A boy who lived in a life or death survival situation day in and day out but couldn't handle conversations about poo and periods.

Ada set the box aside and reached into the bag one more time to make sure she hadn't missed anything. She wasn't expecting there to be anything else but to her surprise and rising dread her fingers closed around a single piece of paper. Ada drew it out slowly.

It wasn't much. Just bigger than a scrap really, the edges jagged as though it had been torn from something else. She turned it over carefully, her hands shaking as she made out the five words scrawled on its surface.

DON'T GO IN THE MAZE

At first as she stared at the words the chatter around her grew. She could hear people shouting back to those too far away to see what was happening, what it said. Their comments and shouts multiplied until all Ada could hear was a roar of white noise that reminded her of the buzzing pain she so hated. Then all it once it fell silent and the quiet was almost like a painful pressure of its own.

Ada looked up and found Alby, looking impossibly tall, glaring down at her.

"Anything you want to tell us, Greenie?"


	15. Chapter 15

_The little girl remembers her father._

 _Sort of._

 _Strong hands. Brown hair. A loud laugh._

 _She had been so young when she came to this place with her mother._

 _Something happened to the sun-something bad-and right after she went to work with her mother._

 _The little girl went to work with her mother and she was safe._

 _But the little girl's father didn't go with them._

 _She asked her mother about him sometimes, back in the beginning when she still saw her often._

 _Where's daddy?_

 _When is he coming?_

 _Does he know how to find us?_

 _Her mother didn't respond but eventually she figured out the answers for herself._

 _Dead._

 _Never._

 _There was no Daddy to do the finding and no family left to find._

 _Just a white coat where a mother used to be._

 _Just a little girl, alone._

 _Lost._


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: I know it's been awhile since I have updated. I lost a friend and the motivation to write just wasn't there. He had been sick for a long time but it's still really, really hard. I'm going to try to get back into the rhythm of writing and updating again. Thanks for those who have sent reviews, please review if you enjoy the chapters it really is a big factor in if I'm able to get myself writing quickly or not. Thanks for reading.**

Ada had never felt so small, not that she could remember anyway, as she knelt on the grass, clutching that slip of paper in her shaking fingers and looking up at Alby. His expression was suspicious and cold.

She glanced around quickly searching for a friendly face but all she saw was a blur of squinted eyes and furrowed brows. Even Newt's normally carefully neutral look was bordering on distrustful.

Ada swung her eyes back to meet Alby's.

"I don't...I don't know what this means," She dropped the paper then as if it had grown hot. It fluttered to the ground delicately, its harmless appearance doing no justice to the impact it had already had on her life in the Glade.

"We all know what it means, Greenie," Alby said, nudging the note with his foot. "Whoever put us here wants you nice and safe in the Glade. What I want you to tell me is why."

"But I don't know!" Ada exclaimed, desperation leaking into her tone.

"What about this?" Alby reached down and snatched up the bag that had been sent up, examining the stitching that spelled her name. "This is old, ragged around the edge. Was this yours, before?"

"I don't remember!" Ada insisted. "Newt..."

She looked to the boy beside her for help, though she still didn't find the comfort in his face that she had come to expect. He still looked unsettled but her direct appeal seemed to have snapped him out of his distraction enough to intervene, at least somewhat.

"Alby," He took a step closer to speak directly to his friend. "This isn't the place for this."

Alby hesitated before nodding grudgingly. He dropped the bag back her feet and she snatched it up, clutching it to her chest. She wasn't sure why she did so and she realized belatedly that it probably only made her look more suspicious to the other Gladers.

"Keepers, we're having a gathering, _now_ ," Alby called out. "The rest of you get back to work."

Ripples of protest spread out around them but a sharp look from Alby quieted the majority of them. Bunches of boys slowly dispersed back to their jobs while the keepers headed for the meeting place, a few stealing glances at her as they went ranging from worried to downright scared. There were even a few that might be better described as angry.

Ada tried to swallow around the lump in her throat with limited success.

"You realize she's going to have to come with us," Newt reminded Alby, taking a step closer to his friend.

Despite the fact that her body was very nearly pulsating with anxiety she managed to take a moment to appreciate just how different the two leaders were. They were roughly the same height but Alby was broad where Newt was slim. Alby was dark where Newt was pale. Alby was loud where Newt was quiet. Alby had the other boys' respect, Newt had their loyalty. Their friendship sometimes baffled her. Already in the short time she had been here all she could see was how different they were. But their ability to lead this place together? That was another story. She saw why it worked and why it worked well.

Only now she had a feeling that friendship, that teamwork could make it easier for them to both turn against her.

"Like hell she is," Alby replied and Ada felt herself somehow tense even more.

"We're not torturing her," Newt protested.

So maybe he hadn't been totally convinced of her treachery quite yet.

"I'll have to stay behind." He finished, seemingly resigned to the idea of being excluded, however uneasily.

"No," Alby shook his head. "Come on, both of you."

He reached down and gripped Ada by the arm, yanking her to her feet semi-gently. She still clutched the bag and it's contents in her hands though the slip of paper she left where it lay. In the end it was Newt who frowned, bent down, scooped it up and shoved it in a pocket. Ada was just glad to have it out of her sight after all of the trouble that it caused despite the fact that Alby's hand squeezing her arm kept her from relaxing too much.

Alby set off for the gathering, tugging Ada along with Newt following along close behind.

"Alby..." Newt started, but when it became clear his friend had no intention of slowing down or answering he let the search for an explanation remain unsaid.

They reached the gathering hut and Alby finally released her arm.

He swung open the door and stuck his head in.

"Gally!"

When the called for builder emerged, Alby gave Newt a little shove towards the door.

"Newt is going to sit right on the other side of this wall, you are going to stay right here," Alby pointed first toward Ada and then towards a spot near the wall. "Gally is going to stay with you. Got it?"

"Great, babysitting duty," Gally said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Ada expected him to kick up a fight and flat out refuse but his snappy remark seemed to be the worst of his protest.

She also half expected Newt to refuse, to insist she stay with him or he stay with her. At the very least she expected him to request that some other than Gally, anyone other than Gally, watch her.

In the end he merely shot her an indecipherable look then nodded and followed Alby into the hut.

Immediately Ada felt the blasted buzzing return though it wasn't anywhere near unbearable at this distance. Once she took a seat on the grass against the wall she knew Newt must be very close on the other side because it faded to an almost unnoticeable background irritant.

Ada sighed in relief. Well, if they were going to vote to lock her in the slammer or worse at least they wouldn't be doing it while she writhed in agony right outside the door.

She didn't know what she would have said in her defense if she had been allowed inside anyway.

She didn't know who she was or what her relationship was to the people who put them here. She didn't know why they were sending her notes or why she had to stay close to Newt or why they decided to send up a girl after not doing so for so long.

An unsatisfying truth would serve her no better than a lie.

"So it's true then?"

She hadn't noticed Gally sinking down beside her until he spoke.

"What?" She asked, nerves once again flooding through her. She and Gally hadn't interacted directly since the bonfire and she hoped the incident with the bag hadn't fanned the flames of his distrust.

"You have some creepy mind meld with that slinthead? You have to stay close to Newt?"

His tone wasn't necessarily hostile and it was surprisingly nice to feel as though one of her toughest critics at least believed one thing about her.

"Yeah, I have to stay close to him," Ada agreed ignoring the first part of his question. "I'm trying to figure it out but that's all I know so far. Really."

Gally just nodded and Ada was happy enough to let things lapse back into silence. Part of her was tempted to strain to hear what was being said in the gathering behind her but she could only make out vague murmurings. She suspected Alby had ordered everyone to keep the volume down and really thee was nothing to accomplished by listening in. If she heard things going badly what could she do? Even if she could somehow give Gally the slip it's not like she could flee. She wouldn't get a hundred yards before the buzzing would bring her to her knees.

"Relax, Greenie," Gally's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "You think lover boy in there is going to let you get banished over a backpack? Not likely."

"He's not...I mean...we're not..." Ada felt a rush of heat to her face.

Gally actually laughed at the expression on her face, pulling a chunk of grass from the ground and grinding it between his fingers absentmindedly.

Ada recovered enough from her embarrassment to respond more coherently to his comments.

"No offense, but don't you _want_ me to be banished?"

Gally tossed aside the grass he held and looked pointedly away from her questioning gaze.

"I wanted you tossed in the slammer until we knew what you being here meant, Greenie," He shook his head. "I didn't want you shoved out in the maze to die."

"Oh," Ada tried to absorb the difference. "But what about the note?"

"The note," Gally finally turned to look at her and his expression was more neutral than she had expected. "The note said for you to stay out of the maze. Do you want to go in the maze?"

Ada flashed back to the trip she and Newt had taken to see the griever and her horrified, sinking suspicion that she would someday have to go into the maze herself if she wanted to find answers. Despite that inkling it wasn't something she _wanted_ to do. Nor was it something she suspected she would be brave enough to do in the first place.

"No," She answered Gally honestly, her fear of such an event obviously seeping into her tone.

"You don't want to go in the maze, and I don't want you to go messing around in the maze," Gally continued. "So the way I see it who cares why _they_ don't want you to go into the maze? When they start sending you notes to murder us I'll take notice."

"Unless you were the one I murdered first," Ada joked, Gally's unexpected, well it couldn't exactly be called support, but lack of abuse, leaving her awash in relief.

"I'd like to see you try, Greenbean," Gally chuckled, going back to tugging at the blades of grass around them and more or less ignoring her.

She allowed herself a small smile before settling more comfortably against the wall. The two of them lapsed into a very nearly companionable silence.

As time stretched on and the fear and uncertainty continued to swirl within her, Ada came to a startling realization.

She was glad Gally was there even if he was essentially guarding her.

She was glad for the company.

She was glad she wasn't alone.

Newt leaned against the wall, arms folded, struggling not to roll his eyes at the scene before him.

When Alby had practically shoved him into the gathering hut his first order of business had been to position himself as close to the wall as possible. He'd taken a rough guess of where Ada would be sitting on the other side and tried to line himself up as best he could. It had given him something to focus on for a brief moment that wasn't the already growing roar of the keepers===

debating among themselves over what the latest delivery from the box meant.

Unfortunately, his ability to ignore it didn't last long.

"What the shuck is going on, Alby?"

"Something's not right."

"What did the note say?"

"Come on, she doesn't remember anything she's not going to do anything."

"You want to take the chance, slinthead?"

"Slim it!" Alby hissed, the roar of discussion fading to waves of murmuring that even their leader's fiercest look couldn't completely quiet. "Everyone is going to have their say but we're going to do it _quietly,_ you shanks got that?"

When Alby was confident he had everyone's attention he continued.

"So here's what we know. A girl showed up when none have come before. Something's wrong with her, or she says it is. She can't get too far away from Newt without keeling over. The box comes up today. No alarm, 3 weeks early and there's nothing inside but a bag with her name on it. Inside is a note telling her to stay out of the maze."

Alby paused and Newt felt a sick weight settle in his stomach. His leg was also starting to ache steadily.

Everything Alby had said was true but there was something about his tone that made Newt want to contradict him already. It wasn't that he was completely unconcerned with today's turn of events. Even before the incident with the bag and the note he'd had more reason than most to wonder what Ada's arrival meant for the Glade. And he had to admit the arrival of the proof that the creators were in fact singling Ada out and even sending her direct messages gave him more than a little pause. These were the same people who dropped them all in this place, boxed them in with a maze with no answer and populated it with horrific monsters to murder them.

What were they supposed to think when those people started treating Ada like a special case?

What was _he_ supposed to think?

And yet he felt a sense of loyalty and even protectiveness toward Ada that couldn't really be explained by the limited amount of time they had known each other. It was true that all the gladers tended to bond quickly and her forced proximity could only help that effort. Maybe there was even something to the fact that Ada was the first girl he could ever remember knowing, maybe it was all some big stereotype and the arrival of a girl had set off caveman tendencies he didn't even remember having.

Maybe he just liked her. He liked her curiosity, he liked her constant planning and experimenting, he liked her sense of humor that somehow always managed to take him by surprise and he liked that she was something different in their shrunken world of same, same, same.

But maybe different was dangerous after all.

Newt realized he had tuned out the group's discussion while lost in his own thoughts. When he was able to key back into the larger conversation things weren't going particularly well.

"We can't trust her," Newt thought it was the keeper of the baggers though he couldn't see his face from his position. "We can't let her just wandering around waiting for messages from the creators. She can't be allowed anywhere near the runner's room, gatherings, the maze..."

"They told her to stay away from the maze anyway," Frypan interrupted. "And it's not like she's going to be unsupervised, she has to stay right next to Newt, doesn't she?"

"Do we know that's for real?" Zart asked, his expression nervous. "What if one day when our guard is down she drops the act?"

"It's not an act," Newt finally found his voice, and tried to keep it calm though he knew at least Alby would detect the slight tremor in it. "When she's had one of these fits she's been in so much pain she ended up unconscious for hours. And we've all seen her in pain, it's not an act."

"Still..." Zart trailed off, looking around for support.

Instead Minho's voice rang out from his spot near the wall opposite Newt.

"So what do you shanks want us to do exactly? Lock her up? She hasn't done anything and there's no evidence that she will."

"That's why we have do something now while we still can!" A voice called out from somewhere out of Newt's line of sight.

"So we should preemptively lock her up, away from Newt basically torturing her maybe to death ?"

"Come on, Minho, you're not hearing me."

"All I'm hearing is a bunch of shanks who are so afraid of their own shadows that they want to lock up a shucking girl for no good reason. This isn't going anywhere. I say we keep our eyes open, do nothing until we have a reason to and get back to work. Let's vote."

Alby's face didn't give it away but Newt could tell he wasn't happy with Minho's demand. There wasn't a lot he could do about it though. Minho may not have been an official leader but when he spoke the other boys listened. It was hard to disregard the opinion of someone who risked their life for them every day.

"Alright," Alby said. "All those in favor of Minho's proposal?"

Newt held his breath for the brief moment between Alby's question and the response from the rest of the boys.

He felt it leave him in a relieved rush as the clear majority of the keepers raised their hands. There were a few who didn't and their expressions clearly showed their displeasure, but for now they seemed prepared to accept the majority's decision.

"Ok," Alby gestured towards the door. "Back to work, and don't be standing around gossiping either. The glade's got to keep running."

The boys filed out, their murmurings starting up again despite Alby's warning.

Newt caught Alby's eye over the other boy's head and a nod from his friend let him know he was expected to stay behind. Once they were alone Newt made his way over, reluctance slowing his progress as much as the pain in his leg.

"I want you to keep an eye on her," Alby whispered, despite the fact that they were the only ones left in the hut. "You have to tell me if she does anything suspicious, anything. And don't say anything important about the glade in front of her either."

Newt didn't know what he had been expecting but it definitely hadn't been tha

"What exactly are you afraid of Alby?" He asked, truly curious. He had his own concerns but Alby seemed to be nervous in a way Newt had never seen from the usually hard to shake leader. He felt his own fear building in the face of his friend's reaction. "Do you really think she could hurt us?"

"I don't think she's here to hurt us," Alby answered, glancing over at the closed door and the girl they both knew was on the other side. "I think she's here to _spy_ on us."


End file.
